Rape, beating nets man prison term

October 01, 2011|LOU MUMFORD | Tribune Staff Writer

CASSOPOLIS -- A Union man with a bad temper, particularly when he drinks, will have a while to contemplate his behavior after he was sentenced Friday in Cass County Circuit Court to a nine- to 15-year prison term.

Judge Michael Dodge handed down the sentence to Scotty Culbertson, 50, who last month entered a guilty plea to third-degree criminal sexual conduct. Culbertson's guideline range for the forced intercourse and assault that occurred July 29 at his apartment called for a 78- to 130-month sentence.

Culbertson and his attorney, Philip Harrison, argued the victim should have accepted some of the responsibility for the crime because she had agreed to have sex with Culbertson in the past, including an encounter that occurred only hours before the assault.

The assault would not have occurred, Culbertson and Harrison said, had Culbertson not begun drinking after the woman left and had she not decided to return to his apartment afterward.

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County Prosecutor Victor Fitz referred to Culbertson's record featuring 14 entries, including five assault convictions. Also, he agreed Culbertson and the victim had had a past relationship but argued that didn't justify the assault.

"You refused to take no for an answer,'' the judge said.

Dodge said the evidence showed the woman resisted his advances but Culbertson assaulted her over a period of several hours. During the attack, he choked her, the judge said, adding she finally managed to escape by kicking him in the groin and running out of the apartment wearing only a top.

But Dodge said the assault continued after Culbertson caught up with her on a street, where he beat her before dragging her back to his apartment by the hair. A neighbor witnessed the attack and called police.